Lucky enough to still only have the tuner that increased penalties and none of the other contentious stuff that came with subsequent tuners.
Slider hell can completely ruin a game. If you're playing out the box, my only advice would be to start off at default sliders on Pro level with some CPU difficulty added to your preference, 7 minute periods and try to get the shot totals / goals somewhat believable.
That does take some limited slider tweaking in my experience. I find CPU shooting accuracy and power needs toned down considerably to avoid third and fourth liners sniping with unerring skill, but they'll still get goals from the slot with better players and cross-creases aren't always certain scores.
That's always been the key for me. Once I've got a solid base where a lot of games finish in between the 3 and 7 goal range and I can beat the CPU goalie on occasion with a clean wrister from a skilled player after a quick deke or screen then I note the shooting settings down.
This year I have HUM shot speed 4, HUM shot accuracy 3, CPU goalie reaction at 4 and play with manual shooting. Slapshot accuracy is nerfed for everyone. That's just what fits with my playing style though...
Set the game speed to your preference, I'm at 1 click, and then seriously ignore every other gameplay slider for at least ten games or so until you get that core "Goals" fundamental dialled in for offline play.
If you're massively outshooting the CPU and winning games 6-1, 5-2 all the time, up the CPU difficulty a bit or consider tweaking puck control / pass accuracy. If you can get to a point where games are competitive for you and keep that as your own slider set, then it's possible to glean some fun from NHL 16. Sure, the shortcomings are still obvious enough but with a decent "fun" base that you've made for yourself, then you can go forward and make tweaks to some of the more esoteric sliders on a case by case basis e.g I usually try to get hitting to my tastes as a next step.
tl;dr Make your own slider set but do it in small steps and give them time to prove their worth or not. If you're using another "Check out these sliderz!" formula, well... it's impossible to fully trust someone else's because there's always that nagging doubt if you tweak something it might make the game a whole lot better. It won't. You need to extract the enjoyment out of the title for yourself in the first instance and that only comes from making it reasonably competitive. Just pretend neutral zone hockey doesn't exist.